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Railway service run solely to meet a legal requirement
A parliamentary train was a passenger service operated in the United Kingdom to comply with the Railway Regulation Act 1844 that required train companies to provide inexpensive and basic rail transport for less affluent passengers. The act required that at least one such service per day be run on every railway route in the UK.
Such trains are no longer a legal requirement (although most franchise agreements require some less expensive trains). The term's meaning has completely changed, to describe train services that continue to be run with reduced frequency, often to the minimum required one train per week, and without specially low prices, to avoid the cost of formal closure of a route or station, retain access rights, or maintain crew training/familiarity requirements on short sections of track. Such services are sometimes called "ghost trains". Sometimes even the train is omitted, with a bus operating as a cheaper-to-operate "rail replacement service" instead.
In the earliest days of passenger railways in the United Kingdom the poor were encouraged to travel in order to find employment in the growing industrial centres, but trains were generally unaffordable to them except in the most basic of open wagons, in many cases attached to goods trains. Political pressure caused the Board of Trade to investigate, and Sir Robert Peel's Conservative government enacted the Railway Regulation Act 1844, which took effect on 1 November 1844. It compelled "the provision of at least one train a day each way at a speed of not less than 12 miles an hour including stops, which were to be made at all stations, and of carriages protected from the weather and provided with seats; for all which luxuries not more than a penny a mile might be charged".
Railway companies reluctantly complied with the law. They scheduled parliamentary trains at inconvenient times and used uncomfortable carriages. One account stated that when passengers complained about a delay, they were told "ye are only the nigger train". James Allport of Midland Railway was proud of providing comfortable third-class service passenger service, but stated that his company needed 25 years to do so.
In popular culture
Parliamentary Train: Interior of a third class carriage (1859)
The Stockport to Stalybridge shuttle approaches Reddish South. This is one of the most well-known parliamentary services throughout the country.
In 1963 under its chairman Richard Beeching, British Railways produced The Reshaping of British Railways report, designed to stem the huge losses being incurred as patronage declined. It proposed very substantial cuts to the network and to train services, with many lines closed under a programme that came to be known as the Beeching cuts. The Transport Act 1962 included a formal closure process allowing for objections to closures on the basis of hardship to passengers if their service was closed. As the objections gained momentum, this process became increasingly difficult to implement, and from about 1970 closures slowed to a trickle.
In certain cases, where there was exceptionally low usage, the train service was reduced to a bare minimum but the service was not formally closed, avoiding the costs associated with closure. In some cases, the service was reduced to one train a week and in one direction only.
These minimal services had resonances of the 19th-century parliamentary services and, among rail enthusiasts, they came to be referred to as "parliamentary trains", "ghost trains", or, more colloquially, "parly" trains (following the abbreviation used in Victorian timetables). However, this terminology has no official standing. So-called parliamentary services are also typically run at inconvenient times, often very early in the morning, very late at night or in the middle of the day at the weekend. In extreme instances, rail services have actually been "temporarily" withdrawn and replaced by substitute bus services, to maintain the pretence that the service has not been withdrawn.
When the closures brought about by the Beeching Report had reached equilibrium, it was recognised that some incremental services or station reopenings were desirable. However, if a service was started and proved unsuccessful, it could not be closed again without going through the formal process, with the possibility that it might not be terminated. It was recognised that this discouraged possible desirable developments and the Transport Act 1962 (Amendment) Act 1981 permitted the immediate closure of such experimental reopenings. The bill that led to the act of 1981 was sponsored by a pro-railways Member of Parliament, Tony Speller, and it is usually referred to as the Speller Act. The process is still in effect, although the legislation has been subsumed into other enactments.
Services
As of 2024
Examples of lines in the current timetable served only by a parliamentary train are:
Via Kirton Lindsey & Brigg. Became a parliamentary service when weekday services were withdrawn in 1993. Regular trains have operated between Gainsborough and Sheffield for most timetable periods since. Suspended January 2022 by Northern, who cited Covid-19 and staffing issues (although they did not provide any replacement buses), but the service was reinstated in December 2022. Changed in May 2023 to be one return journey on weekdays only.
Merseyrail trains operate west of Ellesmere Port, but there are proposals for their new stock to take over the current limited service to Helsby. The line also sees limited freight use. Stanlow & Thornton station, which would be the first stop east of Ellesmere Port, had its service suspended in 2022. These are the only services that call at Ince & Elton.
These journeys use the curve between Beckenham Junction and New Beckenham (previously used by a weekday morning Cannon Street to Beckenham Junction via New Beckenham train, returning in the afternoon to Charing Cross). This is a common diversionary route for trains from Charing Cross to Hastings when the route through Hither Green is closed.
The only train to regularly use the Edinburgh Suburban line, which runs to the south of the main lines through Edinburgh. The line in the other direction has not seen regular use for some time. From March 2023, this train will run non-stop via Shotts, rather than calling at Motherwell.
Via Bristol East Curve. Only public service to regularly use the curve. The curve in the other direction towards Filton has not seen regular use in a considerable number of years.
Via Ironville Jn. Since its inception it has suffered erratic performance, with its previous journey from Nottingham frequently terminating short at Mansfield Woodhouse, meaning this service starts from there.
Runs via the Sleaford Avoiding line. The avoiding line heading south is not in regular use, but does see use as a diversion when the East Coast Main Line is closed near Newark North Gate.
Only train booked to use the "Up (East) Slow Line" between Bessacarr Jn and Doncaster Black Carr Jn. Previous service from Peterborough often terminates in platform 5 at Doncaster, causing this service to not run from platform 2 as it should.
Only services to use the single-line curve at the southern end of King Edward VII Bridge. Northern service started in late 2019, LNER service started running in December 2021.
Formerly an evening peak service ceased in March 2020, reintroduced in May 2023 as a morning peak service. Only service for a number of years to use the Leigham Spur between Streatham Hill and Tulse Hill. The line in the other direction has not seen regular use for a number of years.
Ceased when the branch line was temporarily closed for construction of the Ascot Road bridge near Croxley Green. The service was never reinstated as it was considered uneconomical to bridge the road, and was permanently closed on 29 September 2003.
Called at Smethwick West following an administrative error that required it to be open a year further following the opening of Smethwick Galton Bridge.
Ceased when London Overground began operations to Clapham Junction. The main route between Latchmere No. 1 Jn and Longhedge Jn never regained regular passenger use.
This train used the Rose Street Curve on its way to Elgin, going past Inverness and then stopping, before reversing for the second time to head to Elgin. In the 2018 timetable, the train ran on weekdays as well. This line has not seen regular use since.
Via the Reading Spur line. Another line from the mainline platforms at Reading is only accessible from the higher numbered platforms, which is mostly used when trains are going towards the North Downs Line from Reading TMD. Regular service ended in May 2022, however the route is maintained for diversionary use.
Only service to go via the Bushbury line, which runs direct from Bescot Stadium to Penkridge. Other trains which run from Bescot to Penkridge run via Wolverhampton. Common diversionary route. Last service ran 10 December.
Only service to go directly between Wolverhampton and Walsall, between Darlaston Jn and Pleck Jn. Other services use the line between Crane Street Jn (near Wolverhampton) and Portobello Jn. Last ran 10 December 2022.
A station may have a parliamentary service because the operating company wishes it closed, but the line is in regular use (most trains pass straight through). Examples include:
One service stops at Teesside Airport every week on a Sunday, at 14:54, even though it is a 15-minute walk to the airport.
Barlaston and Wedgwood, which are currently only served by replacement buses.
Teesside Airport, which serves Teesside International Airport, lost most of its services due to its relatively long distance to the terminal as well as competition from buses which offered more reliable services (which in turn were withdrawn due to the airport's sharp decrease in air passengers). Operated by Northern Trains. Service has been suspended since May 2022.
Two Great Western Railway services stop at Pilning every week, both on a Saturday and in one direction only.Pilning, near Bristol – only two trains per week, both from Cardiff Central on Saturdays only at 08:33 (to Penzance) and 14:33 (to Taunton). Formerly one train each way per week, but the bridge to the down platform was removed in November 2016. Operated by Great Western Railway.
Barry Links and Golf Street. From 19 May 2019, these stations are only served Monday-Saturday by the southbound 06:06 Arbroath to Dundee and 07:44 Arbroath to Edinburgh Waverley; northbound services are the 16:09 Glasgow Queen Street to Arbroath service (16:10 Saturday) and the 17:02 Edinburgh Waverley to Arbroath service (17:01 Saturday). Operated by ScotRail.
Shippea Hill station, one of the least used stations in the entire country.Shippea Hill and Lakenheath on the Breckland line to Norwich. Shippea Hill is served at 07:26 Mondays–Fridays (07:47 Saturday) eastbound (to Norwich) and 16:13 Saturdays only westbound (to Stansted Airport). Lakenheath, however, is served by seven trains on a Sunday (4 eastbound, 3 westbound). There are no services Monday–Friday and just a single journey in each direction on Saturdays (11:13 westbound, 15:49 eastbound). Both operated by Abellio Greater Anglia.
Polesworth has one train per day Mondays–Saturdays, northbound only at 06:50. After major works on the West Coast Main Line, contractors neglected to replace the footbridge which they had removed, leaving passengers unable to access southbound trains. Operated by West Midlands Trains.
In the mid-1990s British Rail was forced to serve Smethwick West in the West Midlands for an extra 12 months after a legal blunder meant that the station had not been closed properly. One train per week each way still called at Smethwick West, even though it was only a few hundred yards from the replacement Smethwick Galton Bridge.
Norton Bridge was served by a replacement bus until March 2019.
A variant of the parliamentary train service was the temporary replacement bus service, as employed between Watford and Croxley Green in Hertfordshire. The railway line was closed to trains in 1996, but to avoid the legal complications and costs of actual closure train services were replaced by buses, thus maintaining the legal fiction of an open railway. The branch was officially closed in 2003. Work in track clearance commenced, beginning the work to absorb most of the route into a diversion of the Watford branch of the Metropolitan line into Watford Junction, but work was stopped in 2016 after a reassessment of likely costs and lack of agreement on funding.
The temporary replacement bus tactic was used from December 2008 between Ealing Broadway and Wandsworth Road when Arriva CrossCountry withdrew its services from Brighton to Manchester, which was the only passenger service between Factory Junction, north of Wandsworth Road, and Latchmere Junction, on the West London Line. This service was later replaced by a single daily return train between Kensington Olympia and Wandsworth Road (as above) operated by Southern until formal consultation commenced and closure was completed in 2013.
D.N. Smith (1988) The Railway and Its Passengers: A Social History, Newton Abbott: David & Charles
MacDermott, E.T., History of the Great Western Railway, London: Great Western Railway, 1927, Vol. 1, part 2, page 640
Pike, Richard, ed. (1888). Railway Adventures and Anecdotes (Third ed.). Hamilton, Adams, and Co. pp. 143–144. 'We remember,' says a writer, 'once standing on the platform at Darlington when the Parliamentary train arrived. It was detained for a considerable time to allow a more favoured train to pass, and, on the remonstrance of several of the passengers at the unexpected detention, they were coolly informed, "Ye mun bide till yer betters gaw past, ye are only the nigger train."' 'If there is one part of my public life,' recently said Mr. Allport (Midland Railway) to the writer, 'in which I look back with more satisfaction than anything else, it is with reference to the boon we conferred on third-class passengers. But it took,' he added, 'five-and-twenty years' work to get it done.'
^ Maund, Richard (31 December 2018). "PSUL 2019" (PDF). branchline.uk.
Maund, Richard (9 December 2017). "PSUL 2018" (PDF). branchline.uk. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
Bridge, Mike, ed. (2017). TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain (3rd ed.). Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. pp. 18, 125. ISBN978-1909431-26-3.
Operators adopt for post Covid railway Modern Railways issue 891 December 2022 page 74
Billson, P. (1996). Derby and the Midland Railway. Derby: Breedon Books.
Jordana, Jacint; Levi-Faur, David (2004). The politics of regulation: institutions and regulatory reforms for the age of governance. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN978-1-84376-464-9.
Ransom, P. J. G. (1990). The Victorian Railway and How It Evolved. London: Heinemann.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
